E-waste outfit automates to ramp up (photos)

shredded e-waste

From a pile of electronic waste, a Sims Recycling Solutions center in Ontario, Canada, is able to separate glass, metals, and plastics from a single stream of TVs, PCs, mobile phones, and CRT displays. The center uses a series of specialized machines to shred and then separate using optical scanners, X-rays, magnets, and eddy currents. This pile here is material which contains copper, a valuable commodity. The following photos are from an existing e-waste facility in Ontario which handles a subset of the materials that a new center in Mississauga will treat.

CRT shredding

For single-stream recycling of mixed electronic waste, material is sorted by machines which are overseen by quality assurance people. This photos shows CRT monitors going up one of many belts for shredding.

Plastics

Steel and iron are sorted out by magnets and an eddy current machine which separates non-ferrous metals. An optical scanner can tell whether something is transparent to sort out glass. Plastics, seen here, are directed to another belt where they are collected and sold as raw material.

CRT separated from plastic

The newly opened Sims center can separate glass with lead from plain glass using an X-ray. The company invested in the automated system in anticipation of higher rates of e-waste recycling due to mandates in Canada.

Control room

The view from the control room in one of Sims' e-waste recycling centers. Machines first shred, then sort materials as they flow along a series of belts. Dust from the shredding is captured and recycled too, allowing all material to be recycled and sold.